Sponsored by the Madison-based Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB), the dimensions of the super-sized Santa were 66 inches tall by 28 inches wide by 28 inces deep. Santa’s beard was made with Wisconsin Monterey Jack cheese and his sack overflowed with Wisconsin Dairyland goodies. Once complete, the cheesy Santa weighed in at 1,920 pounds.

The carving event, which took place Dec. 10 through Dec. 13, featured samples for customers throughout each day. Clean shavings that came off the carving that weren’t sampled by customers during the carving process were donated to Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest). Any carvings that hit the floor — and Santa himself — were then donated to a Wisconsin farmer for reprocessing as animal feed.

Nationally recognized cheese sculptor Sarah “The Cheese Lady” Kaufmann served as the cheese carver. Since 1996, she has received hundreds of commissions for her cheese creations, which have captured countless media impressions. Kaufmann creates some sculptures in her studios in Cinncinati and San Diego and also appears in person to sculpt cheese at a variety of venues, including food and wine festivals, supermarkets, trade shows, state fairs, sporting events and civic celebrations.